Integrated circuits (IC's) used in electronic systems generate a relatively significant amount of heat during operation. Heat impedes the operation of the electronic systems and proves difficult to dissipate, especially when heat-emanating circuitry is encased within a small area. Efforts to address this problem have met with mixed success, particularly in devices such as thin-client computers (“TCC's”) that use small footprint IC's.
In one approach, TCC's are cooled by a heat exchanger and fan assembly that is positioned in the rear of the TCC. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,652,223 describes a horizontal convection fan structure that can be used to cool a TCC. Heat exchanger and fan assemblies often rely on several exchanger fin layers for heat transfer. U.S. Pat. No. 6,982,481 describes an apparatus that uses fins to dissipate heat by convection; U.S. Pat. No. 7,120,020 describes high capacity bent fin heat sink; and United States Patent Application Document No. 20070151712 describes a heat sink comprising heat-dissipating fins connected to a cylindrical thermal transport.
Relatively large copper pipes are also sometimes employed in TCC's to connect heat-generating components to a heat exchanger and fan assembly at the back of the unit. The large size of these pipes, however, makes it impractical to use them to connect more than two heat-generating components to the heat exchanger and fan assembly. As a result, several heat-generating components within the computer are left un-cooled, leading to many problems in both system design and system reliability.
The effectiveness of the aforementioned heat exchange systems is limited by the by the small area in which heat-emanating circuitry is confined. A thin-client form factor design proves incompatible with either a large heat exchanger fin surface area or alternative cooling apparatus such the shaped metal piece apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,307,844.
Accordingly, the need exists for an electronic assembly and heat sink that will effectively transfer and dissipate heat from small footprint electronic device circuitry.